Mechanical musical instrument.



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MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. (Application filed 56bit. 15, 1898.)

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No. 657,560. Patented Sept. u, moo.

H. MULLER.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

(Application filed Sept. 16, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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W 7 MW' UNITED STATES PATENT Omen.

HENRY MHLLER, OF WAHREN, NEAR LEIPSIO, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE POLYPHON WERKE, OF SAME PLACE.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,560, dated September 1 1, 1900.

Application filed September 15, 1898. Serial No. 691,035. (No model.)

T0 to whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY MI'FLLER, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Wahren, near Leipsic, Saxony, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to that class of mechanical musical instruments in which the effect of the violin tone is produced by a moving endless band, onto which the strings are pressed by mechanical meansby the aid of a note disk sheet or the like.

The invention consists of the details of construction hereinafter set, forth, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In order to render the present specification more easily intelligible, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference denote similar parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the instrument; Fig. 2, a plan; Fig. 3', a detail sectional elevation showing the string-operating mechanism; Fig. 4, a detail side elevation showing the string depressed; Figs. 5 and 6, a cross-section and a plan of the bow-supporting bridge or comb; Figs? and 8, similar views of a modified form of bridge; Figs. 9 and 10, an elevation and a plan of the note defining or stretching mechanism for the strings; Figs. 11 and 12, a modified form of the device, and Figs. 13 and 14 a similar elevation and a sectional plan of a further modification.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4, on the soundingboard V of the instrument are supported the strings S by means of pins 8 and pegs W, the latter serving to tune the strings. The strings S are supported on the bridges S and S an intermediate bridge S being adj ustably supported below the strings and serving to produce the required note when the string S is depressed onto the moving band or bow B,"

which for the purposes of this specification will be called the bow, and is of suitable material to produce a musical sound when the strings are brought into contact therewith. In order to properly support the bow B, the same runs over the fixed table T and is an endless band supported on suitable rolls 3 and 4 and driven from any suitable source of power by means of a cord or the like 5, which may be guided on pulleys 1 and 2. g indicates the note sheet or disk, supported to move in a horizontal plane above the strings and having downwardly-extending teeth Z, adapted to depress a lever H, pivotally mounted at w. The tooth or teeth of the note sheet disk or roll (as will be readily understood a roll could be substituted, as indicated at Fig. 3) contact with an upwardly-extending nose K of the lever H, depressing the latter and causing its downwardly-extending arm S to depress the cor responding string S onto the bridge S and the moving bow B, thus forming and producing the required note. The mechanism for moving the note disk sheet or roll is not shown, as any suitable means may be employed. M M indicate supporting-beams for the note-sheet; N, aguiding-clamp for the note sheet or disk holder, which reaches to the disk-supporting point 0. This mechanism is, however, not shown, since the same forms no part of the present invention. In order to keep the bow tight, a spring-lever h is pivotally mounted at y on the beam M and has a roll R, which is spring-pressed against the bow B by means of the spring F. L is a ledge which serves to limit the upward movement of the levers H, which are returned to their initial position after having operated the string by means of the elasticity of the latter. As indicated at Fig. 3, instead of the sheet 9 a roll g maybe employed. The stop-ledge L is so adjusted that the string after having been vibrated will be damped by the arms S of lever H still resting on it.

Instead of a full stationary table underneath the bow a comb-like table T may be employed, as shown at Figs. 5 and 6.

In order to accurately determine the length of string necessary to produce the required note, a bar R is provided having upwardlyextending pins 6, against which the strings are stretched, Figs. 9 and 10. These pins may also be additionally stayed or supported by a top bar R, Figs. 11 and 12. These pins serve to sharply define the length of string which is vibrated by the bow.

As shown at Figs. 7 and 8, the bow may be supported on a U-shaped bar L having rolls W instead of the full bridge, and instead of the pins 6 the bar B may be provided With orifices P for the strings, Figs. 13 and 14, the said bar in this case being made of one piece of material. The tone may be produced by tubes or rods instead of strings. The bar having pins foraecurately defining the length of the string to be vibrated to produce the note is fixed in the instrument in such a manner as to cause the strings to be stretched at an angle on the said pins, as will be evident from Figs. 10 and 12.

I claim as my invention In a mechanical musical instrument of the class specified having a set of strings and a HENRY MULLER.

\Vitnesses':

MORITZ SPREER, RUDOLPH FRICKE. 

